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Maple Syrup with a Side of Chlorine

My wife and kids motivated me to get my big belly back into the pool after buying a pair of SwiMP3's for Christmas in 2008. I focused on swimming the Peaks To Portland (Maine) 2.4 mile swim in July, 2010, and have added meets and consistent training since then. I mostly swim on my own because I am only able to get together with the local Master's workout group a couple of times a month. I love the backstroke and short free events, and I have a newly discovered fondness for Open Water, having completed my first 10K in Sept '11 and 10 mile in July '12.

My faith in Christ sees me through the exhausting practices and long hours driving to competitions (well, everything day by day, actually), and helps to keep me grounded in the knowledge that the events are only to give me feedback on how my training is progressing. If you're interested, just ask.
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Check out my swimmer info page here.

, January 12th, 2019 at 02:34 PM (Maple Syrup with a Side of Chlorine)

I helped do a special coaching session with the high school swim team yesterday that consisted of butterfly technique development and flip turns. Once a year I try to help them out and the kids are generally receptive to having someone hop in the water and show them the correct way to do things. I swam about five hundred yards during the course of the hour along with the kids. Today the Masters group worked on preparing for the one hour swim which we will do in 5 weeks.

Everybody looks forward to this workout each January, and my game plan was to up the yardage a little bit with the 75 and I was able to make it free to them throughout the set. As in years past, I set up my phone in a portable speaker so that we had some tunes blasting while waiting on the wall, this year I swam with Jim, Greg, Libby, Sean, Rebecca and Melissa.

, December 31st, 2018 at 05:18 PM (Maple Syrup with a Side of Chlorine)

Quiet couple of weeks due to work and holiday pool closures. I have been hitting an 80# punching bag with a 20min workout 3-4 times a week which seems to be helping my shoulders. Swim today at lunchtime...

1 x 100 all out on 3:00
2 x 50 all out on 1:30
1 x 100 all out on 3:00
2 x 50 all out on 1:30

When you feel like slowing down, just remember, Santa’s sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second—that’s 3,000 times the speed of sound—to deliver all those toys in one night. How fast are you going? That’s right, not fast enough. Keep going.

Bumbles Bounce: Rudolph: “But you fell off the edge of the cliff.” Yukon Cornelius: “Didn’t I ever tell you about Bumbles? Bumbles bounce.”

Streamline push off the bottom. Butterfly kick out of the water as high as you can go. Hold it. Repeat 10 times.

Grinch's Reprise: “And what happened then...? Well, in Whoville they say that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day!”

300 social kick

Coach Ebenezer Scrooge’s Set: “If they’d rather die, then they had better do it and decrease the surplus population.” Libby and Jeff did im, others just free

Just me and Greg at practice tonight. Trying to better sombre times for the virtual swim league in a few events over the next couple of weeks, although with work and pool closures I'm not sure how many I can redo.

, December 11th, 2018 at 10:26 PM (Maple Syrup with a Side of Chlorine)

200 swim/100 kick/200 pull [did extra 200]

2 x
- 1 x 250 on 5:00 [did 300s: 3:41, 3:36]
- 3 x 100 on 2:00 even pace [did back]
- 2 x 100 on 2:00 descend
- 1 x 50 ez on 2:00
[Masters/Rec/2400 yds/55 min]
==========================
Still a bit sore from the meet on Saturday and decided that the last round of 100s would be the warmdown so we could have some sauna time.

, December 8th, 2018 at 09:39 PM (Maple Syrup with a Side of Chlorine)

I had a good night's sleep and checked into the meet online before heading down to swim during day 2 of the New England scm champs. I was able to get two guys from my workout group to join me and it worked out that our college guy Noah picked me up and drove to meet Greg who drove the rest of the way to the meet. Worcester, MA, is about 2.5 hours from home and since my first event wasn't scheduled until 12:30ish we were able to not feel too rushed driving down.

Once at the pool we found our buddies from the Pittsfield Y and Simon's Rock teams to sit with and I got in for warmups. Did my 1200 standard in the scy side of the pool that was available for warmup/down throughout the meet while the women swam the 400 free. I felt good and decided against swimming any extra before my first race:

event 12: 50 fly - 30.28
- I had a solid swim although I hoped to get under 30. My start underwaters were not great but I nailed them off the turn. Happy with the swim.

At this point there was a scheduled 30 minute break, so I hopped into the competition pool and swam 700 meters including a few sprints to play with the backstroke wedges, which I only see at these championship meets. I also ate half of a PBJ sandwich I brought along. I didn't warm up again before swimming:

event 14: 200 back - 2:27.59
34.88
37.21 (1:12.09)
37.46
38.04 (1:15.50)
Super excited to come in under 2:30, and this time was 4 seconds faster than last year! I stuck to my plan of starting strong then building into the second 50 before attacking the last 100, and aside from dying a bit at the end I felt like I executed the plan well. My underwaters are not the greatest due to lack of endurance so there is room for improvement there. Should hold up for a Top Ten time. Did 300yds and got on deck to watch Noah and Greg in the 50 free and barely catch my breath for my swim:

event 16: 50 free - 27.69
Tired but pumped to get under 28. I was probably a little too conservative on the first lap but locked down for the finish. Hopped in for 400y warmdown and then rested leading into the 400 MR. I have a long shot at making TT in the 100 back and we were able to get help from Pittsfield by having Jack swim with us (although the points didn't count since we are different workout groups). The order was Mike, Greg, Jack, Noah and we all had a fun time swimming in a relay!

event 24: 400 MR (100 back split) - 1:08.30
33.67/34.63
I was aiming to get under 1:10 and felt strong and in control during the entire swim. I employed my strong/build/fast/fast strategy and was able to hit my underwaters at 8/7/5/4 - less than I wanted on the last two walls. We came in at 5:09 and had a great time.

I finished off with 400 yards warmdown and we headed back to VT. I am a bit sore but really happy to have not only swam well myself but also share in the experience with some of my teammates. Some monster swims were thrown down on both the mens and womens side - swim phone results here: https://www.swimphone.com/meets/even...cfm?smid=10937

5 deep water bobs
4 x 25 burst and cruise on 1:00
200 loosen and out
[Masters/Rec/1500 yds/45 min]
====================
Taper workout #5. Good swim with Matt, Greg, Noah, Carol, and Jim. All set for swimming at New Englands this Saturday, 50 free and fly plus a 200 back kicker. We are trying to find a fourth swimmer to have a 400 MR. My speed is not where I would like it to be and my endurance for the 200 back isn't superb, but I am looking forward to a fun day of racing.

, December 2nd, 2018 at 08:02 PM (Maple Syrup with a Side of Chlorine)

Another quick swim this afternoon after work and leading the nursing home service at one of the local facilities (I do this the first Sunday of every month)...

200 free/200 back/200 im drill

3 x
- 50 DPS, :10 sr
- 25 fast into 25 easy
- 100 kick

4 x 50 burst and cruise
4 x 50 as 25 fast into 25 easy
150 loosen and out
[Solo/Rec/1750 yds/37 min]
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Taper workout #3... I try to get 6 taper workouts in over 2 weeks, but this time around I will only get in 5. Feeling strong in the water.

Turducken set: A turducken is a turkey that is stuffed with a duck, which in turn has been stuffed with a chicken. I’ve never tasted one, but I feel like I’ve been reading about them as a novelty food item for at least a decade. The latest article I saw about turducken was not about food at all, but about privacy law, and ever since I read it, the word has been rolling around in my head. So I decided I would assemble stroke turduckens by stuffing a 50 of one stroke into the middle of a 100 of another stroke, then sticking the whole thing into a 200 of yet another stroke. I did four rounds of these; on the first, turkey=fly, duck=back, and chicken=breast; the strokes rotate through the IM thereafter. The set looked like this:

On each round I aimed to do the middle 50 at 200 IM pace; the 50 before it as build and the 50 after it as recovery, and the turkey 100s at the front and back at basic aerobic pace.

I had to leave practice early so besides the main set I put a 600 yard warmup and 200 to loosen out. This a fun and challenging set that I bring back every year. The team did a 250's (mixing 100/50/100 with swim/kick/pull) and I only did 1-arm fly this year. Total for me was 2200 yds in 40 minutes.

I was the only one at practice tonight so I missed the push that swimming with the team provides, although the clock ticking away kept me honest. The pool will be closed Thurs and Friday but I plan to be at practice on Saturday.

I've come down with an autumnal viral infection targeting my sinuses. I took off Saturday and have been focused on getting rest, taking it easy on the 125's instead of trying to crank out 150's. Hope this passes soon.

4 x 75 K-S-P on 1:30 [did 4 on 1:15, then 50 easy]
200 loosen and out
Sauna time!
[Masters/Rec/2450 yds/45 min]
===================
Starting to come down with my annual fall head cold - hope it passes more quickly than in previous years.

"The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts."
- A. W. Tozer

"Remember God's timing is not our timing and that whenever we try to rush that plan, we will have to bear the consequences of our impatience."
- Pastor Frank Brown (True during a taper!)

“God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which he must work.
Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves.”
- A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

"We have to be continually reminded of what we #believe. No belief will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed."
- C.S. Lewis

Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

Let me paraphrase Eric Liddell from Chariots of Fire: "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I swim I feel His pleasure." -- I am certainly not the fastest, but I do feel that when I swim I am using a talent that He gave to me.

"I need some time with God and a mental vacation."
- TobyMac

‎"Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have."
- Source unknown

Romans 5:8 (KJV)
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

"The grace of God is infinite and beyond our ability to measure. His grace has no beginning and therefore no end."
- A.W. Tozer

Quarters Strong:
Swim a fast quarter length, starting with the last 1/4, then shuffling the quarter to the beginning. For a 50, these would be 12.5; for a 100, these would be 25.

Dolphin Dives in the Shallows
I've seen Mallory Mead list the DDS before in her OW workout thread before: swim to the flags, go under water, skd then turn at wall, skd out past flags.

Mighty Mouse kicks
Mighty Mouse is a variation of the corkscrew drill from Pat's blog that I do while kicking - right arm in front while rotating from back to stomach every 5 or so seconds, in the opposite direction on the second lap -- left arm in front the next time.

Shark Swim
Hold a kickboard between legs and pull 25, then kick FAST 25. Usually the pull is a recovery from the kick.